


The Bat Jew

by Progman



Category: Bombshells (Comics), Captain America (Comics), DCU (Comics), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Canon Jewish Characters, Canon Queer Characters, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, Hydra Steve Rogers, Inspired by a Movie, Jewish Comics Day, Judaism, Nazis, Period-Typical Antisemitism, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 10:31:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7044769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Progman/pseuds/Progman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>Nazi-occupied France, 1943</b>
</p><p>The Bombshells, lead by Commander Amanda Waller, have accomplished the impossible. They've captured Captain Steven Rogers. Alive. Now, all that's left is to discover if he truly is the monster they've heard about, and decide what should be done with him. They're all, on some level, praying it's a ruse. That he's the hero he's always been. That it's all a sick, cruel joke. Because if it isn't, if things are truly as they appear to be...</p><p>It's not going to be pretty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bat Jew

**Author's Note:**

> It occurred to me, a little before Marvel shot themselves in the face by making Steve Rogers a nazi, that Kate Kane is basically the Bear Jew of the Bombshells Universe. She has a bat, she's jewish, she kills nazis deep in enemy territory. So when the proverbial bomb dropped, I just couldn't resist going for it. 
> 
> Because I'm really that fucking disgusted.
> 
> Say No To Hydra Cap, Buy DC Bombshells.

**_Somewhere in Nazi-occupied France, 1943_ **

 

Amanda Waller knelt down in front of their brand new captive, blindfolded and restrained with amazonian steel. Down on his knees in a dried up riverbed below an old bridge.

The Bombshells didn’t normally take prisoners, but with _this_ one they’d needed to make an exception. As well as an example. She’d lost a lot of good soldiers attempting to capture him. Women who’d never go home to their husbands, their lovers, their children. All because this _one man_ pulled the biggest heel face turn in recent memory.

Captain Steve Rogers was a member of HYDRA, the deep science division of the Third Reich. Perhaps a sleeper agent, perhaps under mind control. Or maybe he had always been vile and the serum had only amplified that.

Waller didn’t care. She had her mission. She had her team. She had a traitor. The way forward was as simple as it was enraging. Deal with Captain America.

Nazi.

“Harleen, if you wouldn’t mind removing Captain Rogers’ blindfold?” she asked, adjusting her gloves. As much as she wanted to get her hands dirty, personally, it wasn’t her fight. She didn’t have the _right_ to strike blows upon him. Should it come to that.

“You got it, boss lady!” said Harley, hopping down into the riverbed with a spring in her step. She untied the blindfold and pivoted around him, bending down to poke their captive in the forehead with a big grin on her face. “Ohhhh, you are in _big trouble_ now, Captain Not-That-American. My friend Amanda tells me that you’re even worse than Mistah J was, and I gotta tell yah...” Her voice dropped into a deep growl. “That ain’t an easy thing to pull off.”

“I don’t know who that is. I don’t think I know who _any_ of you are, other than that you’ve been hunting me for the past month,” said Rogers. “You got me, and you’re clearly on the Allied side of the line, so how about we cut to the chase and you explain to me just what the hell is going on?”

“I’ll make this simple, Captain Rogers,” said Waller, slamming his shield down into the dirt in front of her. “Your cover has been compromised. We _know_ you’re a deep cover operative for HYDRA. Or, appear to be one. We were ordered to take you in, and assess the threat you pose to the Allies and the world at large.”

“And who is _we_?”

“Can’t you tell, Captain?” she said, smirking. “We’re the _Bombshells._ ”

“Well, it was either that, or the SSR.” Rogers raised a brow. “I’ll admit, you surprised me. Last I checked, this team was more interested in taking down demon nazis than boring old me.”

“Watch your tongue, Captain,” said Diana. She narrowed her eyes. “A great many among us would claim you’re no different. And I have yet to find evidence proving otherwise.”

Rogers frowned. “Then you should probably look harder, _Wonder Woman_.”

“---who’s queer and magic---” interjected Harley.

“And let me guess, the rest of you are…” He rolled his eyes. “Doctor Harleen Quinzel---”

“---psychiatrist extraordinaire, queer, some argue suffering from hysteria but I think that’s a load of malarkey, and _jewish_. Ain’t I just a big barrel of purgin’---”

“---Zatanna Zatara---”

“---jew, magician _and_ romani! It’s like nazi christmas---”

“---Pamela Isley---”

“---queer and the most bee-utiful shade of green! Bet you wanna take her apart and find out why all the plants love her _almost_ as much as I do!”

“I’d ask that you stop, cherie, but I know that you will not,” said Isley.

“---Mera, Queen of Atlantis.” Rogers looked to Harley. “Well? Anything to add?”

Harley pointed to herself and blinked. “Hm? Oh, no, not really.”

“Well, _why not_?” asked Mera.

“The Nazis don’t see your people as plague that must be purged,” said Zatanna. “ _Yet._ ”

“Diana and I used to date!”

Harley snapped her fingers. “Oh yeaaaaaaah! That’s right! Completely forgot. So. Queer.”

Rogers rolled his eyes. “Which just leaves, Kara Starikov---”

“---space alien supergirl! Easy pickins’ for those fancy experiments!”

Kara pouted and crossed her arms. “Even if he _could_ break my skin, do not encourage the monster, Doctor!”

“---Renee Montoya, better known as The Question---

“---also queer---”

“ _And_ the leader of a large group of Freedom Fighters, but fine. Skip over that,” said Renee, crossing her arms.

“And Amanda Waller,” finished Rogers.

“---black and smart!”

Waller smiled. “It seems our reputation precedes us, Captain. And...thank you, Harleen, for that _apt_ commentary.”

Harley saluted. “Happy to do it, Commander!”

“No, wait, the one from the radio serials…” Rogers made a face and looked around the clearing, from up high to down low. Searching. He laughed once. “I can’t believe this. You put on this whole show, and you’re missing your _poster girl_?!”

“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions so soon, Captain,” said Waller.

 _Clack._ The sound of a baseball bat tapping against concrete echoed down the tunnel.

Waller leaned forward. “You hear that?”

Rogers narrowed his eyes at the entrance. “Kinda hard to miss.”

“ _That_ would be Specialist Katherine Kane. You may know her better by her codename: Batwoman. But…” She set her hands down in her lap. “...as we’ve discovered, the Germans have given her a _different_ one. The _Bat Jew_.  And boy, does she just love that name.”

_Clack._

“I’m sure that she does,” growled Rogers. “I’ll bet it suits her perfectly.”

“She wears it with pride. Now, if you’ve heard of the Bombshells, you’ve most certainly heard of the Bat Jew. Her... _new_ reputation.”

“I’ve been informed, yes.”

_Clack._

“And what, exactly, have you heard, Captain Rogers?”

Rogers paused a moment, looking around at the rest of her team. “She beats HYDRA agents with some sort of club.”

“Wrong. She bashes _nazi_ heads in with a baseball bat. As far as any of us are concerned, that is exactly what you are. So, Rogers, I’m going to give you one chance…” She held up a single finger. “...and one chance only. Come forward. Tell us the whole thing was some sick, uninspired and tasteless prank you wanted to pull on the country that _made_ you. Tell us that Captain America is exactly the hero we believed he was not so long ago.” She tilted her head. “Otherwise, I’m going to call the Bat Jew, and she’s going to take that fancy bat of hers, and she will beat you to death with it.”

Rogers grit his teeth. “How can you be sure I’d be telling the truth, and not just what you want to hear?”

“Simple.” Waller made eye contact with Diana, who nodded and got into position behind Rogers, her lasso at the ready. “If it’s just another ruse, Specialist Kane won’t just beat you to a pulp; she’ll _refrain_ from killing you, just so we can do it all over again tomorrow. And the next day, and the next day.” She crossed her arms.  “And every day after that until we’ve driven you completely mad. A fate worse than death, wouldn’t you agree?”

_Clack._

“If you could manage that, yeah. Sounds like it.”

“It should. It is. And before you get clever, my good friend Wonder Woman possesses a very handy tool that can _compel_ you to tell the truth.” She gestured to Diana, and Rogers turned, looking up at her paralyzing glare.

Diana cracked her lasso. “There will be no more hiding your true intentions. The truth _will_ reveal itself, no matter how strong that serum may be.”

“We’ll see,” he grumbled, his shoulders tensing up. Probably from trying to break his unbreakable bindings. “What are these, vibranium?”

“Amazonian steel with a little bit of Nth metal thrown in for good measure,” said Zatanna. “You’re a hard one to keep down, Steven Rogers.”

“Time’s up, Captain,” said Waller, rising to her feet. “Admit the jig is up, we ship you back home, you get court-martialed, and live out the rest of your days with the guilt of knowing all the people you hurt with your cruel little joke.” She folded her hands behind her back. “Or don’t, and we watch Katey crack that super skull of yours all over the ground.”

Rogers scowled up at her. “Fine. I’m not HYDRA. It was all a big bad joke.”

“For everyone’s sake, I pray that’s true.”

“He is most certainly lying,” said Kara. “I can _see_ it.”

“How ‘bout it, big bad blue eyes?” said Harley. “You as nasty as they say? You a fat stinkin’ nazi?”

Diana wrapped her lasso around his waist and pulled it tight, planting her boot on his back. “The lasso compels you to answer.”

Rogers curled his lips into a snarl. “Hail Hydra.”

“See? I told you,” said Renee. “Not even a question worth asking.”

_Clack._

“What a shame.” Waller clicked her tongue. “Oh, Steven, on some level, we _were_ hoping you’d say something as damning as that. See, watching Kate brain nazis is about the closest thing we get to going to the movies these days. And she _never_ fails to entertain.” She whistled. “Katherine!”

“Waller,” she responded, far into the tunnel.

“We’ve got a nazi here who wants to die for his ideals. Oblige his last request, won’t you?”

The banging again. Rod against concrete, the sharp noise echoing through the darkened tunnel beneath the bridge and into the ravine. Like a prison warden cracking their baton across the bars of every cell as they took roll; a constant reminder that they lived and died by another’s hand.

A little bit of theatricality. A little bit of fear. A little bit of calculated menace and violent glee.

And a _whole_ lot of amazonian steel.

_Clack._

Rogers convulsed and struggled in his bindings. “I’m doing _what’s necessary,_ Waller! I don’t surrender!” he yelled, the bat clacking ever closer. “I don’t compromise my ideals, and I’m sure as hell not going to just abandon something my mother raised me to believe!” He forced himself up to his knees and flashed his teeth. “So you, and your Bombshells, and your leashed _jew dogs_ can go _fuck yourselves!_ ”

“I don’t think we’ll be doing that,” said Kate, strutting out of the tunnel, her red and black uniform as elegant as it was deadly. “You and me though, we’re gonna have a good time. _Off the leash._ ” She swung her bat over her shoulder. “You familiar with Kaballah, Rogers?”

“Don’t you mean cabal? The _occult_ ? Good lord, what _won’t_ you people---”

Kate swung at his jaw with a loud _crack,_ knocking him on to his side. “No. I mean _Kaballah._ Jewish mysticism.”

Rogers spat out blood. “Don’t care what it is. It’ll be _dead_ soon.”

“No. It won’t. _We_ won’t. I’m certain of it.” Kate slapped her bat against her palm and circled Rogers. “Because as I beat you within an inch of your life, over and over again, for the rest of our days, I will teach you.” She bashed his head, drawing blood. “I will teach you _everything_ about my faith. My people.”

Rogers grunted and struggled up to his knees. “W---why? _Why_ would you do that?!”

“Well, Rogers, call me an optimist, but given enough time and effort, I think I just might be able to _beat_ the nazi out of you. And then, perhaps, you’ll be _worthy_ of that jewish-made serum the late Doctor pumped into you.” She swung at his forehead, knocking him on to his back, blood pouring down his face and staining her steel. “So, lesson one. We’re going to skip ahead to something _very_ relevant to your current situation.” _Crack._ A strike to his knee. “But we’ll come back to the basics, don’t you worry. _I won’t forget a thing._ ”

Rogers cried out. “You dirty k---”

Kate shattered his jaw. “Not another word out of you!” Her calm demeanor cracked, unbridled rage burning in her eyes and a grip so strong it tore the leather of her gloves. “In Kaballah, there are ten central emenations to the practice, through which God reveals himself, creates our world, and the realms of higher spirituality _._ All chained together. _Sephirot._ All branches of the same tree, feeding into one another. For now, though…” She broke his other knee. “You only need to understand the _fifth_. Gevurah.”

Rogers screamed and tried to crawl away, jerking his body along the bloody dirt.

Kate twirled her bat. “Diana, be a dear and hold him down, won’t you?”

Diana tightened her lasso. “With pleasure.”

“Thank you.” Kate knelt down beside Rogers, her scowl growing more intense with each passing second. “Gevurah. Severity. Judgement. Most commonly identified with the color…” She smashed his stomach, then his ribs. His sternum, his head, his chest; unbreakable bones cracking and breaking strike after strike. Blood splattering across her uniform, painting over the black. “ _...red_ ,” she snarled.

Rogers was still breathing. Strong and steady, even after all of that. His eyes snapped open. He groaned something unintelligible. Still conscious. Big mistake.

Kate rested her bat against the back of his head. “Oh, good, you’re still with us. I’m glad you’re so _eager_ to learn. After all, we’re not even at the bottom of the first, yet.” She swung and cracked open his skull.

“Lesson two…”

**Author's Note:**

> YEAH. GO KATE!
> 
> For those who may not remember, or didn't catch it, this connection between Kate Kane and Kaballah actually has a lot of precedence in the main DC continuity. The original Detective Comics run, comprised of "Elegy", "Go" and "Cutter", written by Greg Rucka with the first two drawn by J.H. Williams III and the third by Jock, features A LOT of visual references to the Sephirot in terms of panel layout and structure, not to mention Kate straight up name dropping "Gevurah" when she first sees her Batwoman suit in Detective Comics #860. Additionally, the door to her 'operational heart' in the penthouse is right next to not only a hannukiah, but a painting of the Sephirot. Hell, the Kane building itself, (briefly seen in full in Detective Comics #862, and the first Batwoman #0, before the New52 relaunch) is shaped to look like it, too! And that’s not even getting into the deeper story elements, or how the very definition of good detective work is so jewish it’s ridiculous.
> 
> There’s no hebrew word for coincidence, after all.
> 
> What I'm getting at is that judaism has always been a significant part of her identity, not just in general, but as the Batwoman. It's no accident that she originally operated out of a penthouse where a huge tree served as the heart. It's not a coincidence that she primarily deals with the cabal, which linguistically sprung from Kaballah over the centuries. Mysticism, magic, demons, a religion of crime, myths; she's a soldier, but so is every jew, if you think about it. 
> 
> I could go on and on about Kate Kane all day, and how the Batman mythos gains an utterly insane amount of depth once you remember that Martha was a KANE (yes, they are first-cousins, and the new run of Detective Comics starting next week will finally be exploring that) before marrying Thomas, but that's a conversation for another time. Anyway...
> 
> Originally, I wanted to try and capture a bit of the tone and pulpy-ness Tarantino had in the film, but once I realized Harley was there...it wasn't going to happen. She has way too much energy to just stand there and be menacing. Ideally, Kate's systematic torture of Rogers made up for that. I had a little bit of fun with the team line-up for the Bombshells, as I wanted to include as many canonically jewish, queer, and other characters belonging to groups long suffering from oppression as I could. So, that's why Zatanna is there, and why Harley goes out of her way to make specific mention of mental illness. As I'm writing this, the Bombshells timeline is currently in 1941, but since Cap is frozen in '43, I figured, hey, let's push the war a bit further and make Kate THAT much angrier.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to buy DC Bombshells with the money you WOULD have used for Captain America: Steve Rogers. Or donate it to a Holocaust Museum. You really can't go wrong.


End file.
